March 29, 2026 / 6:39 PM EDT / CBS News
On the eve of the launch countdown for their mission around the moon, Artemis II astronauts said Sunday they are “ready to go” as teams prepare the rocket for a Wednesday liftoff, weather permitting.
Commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen flew from Houston to the Kennedy Space Center on Friday and entered medical quarantine to prepare for launch. They answered reporters’ questions during a virtual news conference Sunday.
“Things are certainly starting to feel real here at the Cape,” Koch said. “Our families joined us yesterday, and we had a chance to be in the pre-test brief[ing] for the actual starting of the launch countdown. So we’re excited to be a part of all that.”
The launch was originally hoped for early February but was delayed by work to fix hydrogen fuel leaks and, more recently, issues pressurizing the rocket’s upper-stage propulsion system. The launch is now targeted for April 1.
Wiseman stressed the mission is a test flight. “This is the first time we’re loading humans on board,” he said. “And I will tell you, the four of us, we are ready to go. The team is ready to go, and the vehicle is ready to go.” He cautioned, however, that they will proceed only when the vehicle and teams are fully ready: “We will go when this vehicle tells us that it’s ready, when the team is ready to go. So we might go out to the pad, and we might have to try again a few more times. And we are 100% ready for that.”
The 49-hour, 40-minute countdown is set to begin at 4:44 p.m. ET Monday. If all proceeds, the clock will hit zero at 6:24 p.m. Wednesday, when the crew hopes to launch in an Orion crew ship atop a 322-foot Space Launch System rocket — both making their first crewed flights.
“When you see this vehicle on the pad, you look at the size of this vehicle, and you know it’s going one place … It is going to space, and it is going to go there in a hurry,” Wiseman said. “When those engines light, this thing is moving out.” He added that he felt relaxed and prepared: “We’ve trained for this, and we’re ready to go.”
Forecasters gave an 80% chance of acceptable weather, with a 20% chance of high winds and thick clouds that could cause a scrub. Ground systems manager Shawn Quinn said the launch countdown pre-test briefing was one of the cleanest they’ve had, with “no significant open work.”
Artemis II is the first piloted flight back to the moon in 53 years and is designed to test Orion’s propulsion, navigation, communications and life support systems before using lunar gravity to return to Earth. The crew will not land or enter lunar orbit but will loop around the moon’s far side and return for a Pacific Ocean splashdown near San Diego a few minutes after 8 p.m. ET on April 10.
If the mission launches at the opening of Wednesday’s two-hour window, the crew will travel to 252,799 miles from Earth — about 4,144 miles farther than the Apollo 13 record set in 1970.
The mission is a pathfinder for future flights, including an Earth-orbit rendezvous and docking test next year and planned moon landings as early as 2028, using lunar landers being developed by commercial partners.